Catalyst - Boon Support Power DPS

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Direct damage and Support

Designed for: Raids

Difficulty:
Hard
This build was last updated on September 10, 2023 and is up to date for the August 22, 2023 game patch.

Overview

A quickness-providing catalyst build. In addition to offering strong DPS, it provides ~15 Might Might, permanent Fury Fury, ~80% Resolution Resolution, ~80% Protection Protection and ~65% Vigor Vigor. It will also occasionally provide Swiftness Swiftness when it blasts its lightning field.

The rotation is identical to the DPS build, and the frequent application of Quickness Quickness makes it fairly reliable. Like any catalyst build, its will struggle if it is unable to reliably generate energy, which can mean that encounters with phases or disruptive mechanics cause the build to underperform.

While it can technically provide Aegis Aegis from , the rigidity of its rotation makes it difficult in practise.


Skill Bar

Hammer
Utility


Weapon Variants

Players who own Secrets of the Obscure can use Sword/Warhorn instead. This provides slightly better boons, but is also slightly lower damage and requires ~20% boon duration. As energy regeneration is also lower, it can be harder to recover from mistakes if is not available.

  • A simple (if suboptimal) swap would be to run and instead of and .
  • You should also run as your elite.


Skill Variants

  • will provide more burst damage than .
  • will be more damage than on large hitboxes.
  • is a minor DPS loss if you prefer to avoid conjured weapons, or you think you won't get use out of the second one.
  • Use if using Sword/Warhorn.


Template Code

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Specializations


Equipment

Head
Berserker
Shoulders
Berserker
Chest
Berserker
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Berserker
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Amulet
Berserker
Ring
Berserker
Ring
Berserker
Hammer
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic
  • is a tiny DPS loss.


Consumables

Food:

  • or ascended versions


Utility:


Usage

Quickness Catalyst uses the same rotation as Catalyst - Power DPS.


Rotation fundamentals

Catalyst's rotation can be varied quite a lot, so an outline is provided rather than a strict skill usage. The fundamental goal is to cycle through all four elements, activating the Circular Projectile in each element before releasing them all with and starting the loop again. Jade Sphere is also used in each element for boons.


Jade Sphere use

During the loop, you also want to deploy your Jade Sphere once in each element. Each one provides Quickness Quickness and one other boon upon activation, then pulses additional boons for the duration. You do not regain the energy needed to cast them while one is active, so it's best to cast them in "pairs" as you switch attunements. This creates some gaps in the loop where energy can recharge, and as the most powerful autoattacks are found in Fire and Earth, these attunements are the best choice to stay in. The sphere does the same amount base damage in each element, but thanks to the damage buffs you gain while in Fire and Air, these attunements are higher priority. also generates stacks of , and and will last longer if used while standing in and .


Glyph of Storms use

should be used either in Fire or Air attunement. Optimal use will depend on phase timings as well as hitbox size - Fire favouring small hitboxes and Air favouring large. Given the damage and cooldown, Fire should be the more efficient option, but the rotation lines up somewhat awkwardly compared to using it in Air, so consider the following:

  • A rule of thumb for elementalist is that your last in each phase should be used in Air, so try to keep an idea of how long you have left when deciding where to use it.
  • As the more powerful option, if you can line Air up with your target gaining Exposed Exposed this will be greatly beneficial - particularly useful in fractals.
  • If your rotation is not particularly tight, you may be better off just casting at the earliest possible opportunity, whether you are in Fire or Air.


Fiery Greatsword use

With the trick (see the Earth section below), Earth has the fewest cooldowns to use, and so is the best time to . Summon after using and (if available) and use then drop the weapon and continue your rotation. The next time you reach Earth, pick the second Greatsword up and repeat.


Fire

In Fire you want to use:


Water

In Water you want to use:

  • - use if available, but don't delay your attunement swap for it


Air

In Air you want to use:

  • .


Earth

In Earth you want to use:

  • - as is a powerful autoattack, it is a good idea to delay this until your attunement swap is available, then use and immediately swap (this will not interrupt the cast)
  • - use if available, but don't delay your attunement swap for it


Rotation example

While you have opportunities to adjust the element order as needed, in most cases you want your first two attunements to be Fire and Air, followed by Water and lastly Earth. Your choice of starting attunement is largely up to you, but it might be best to base it upon which you wish to open with.


Opener in Fire

  1. (optional)


Air

  1. once you pass 20 energy (2/3rds of the energy bar) and swap to Water Attunement Water Attunement


Water

  1. - if available
  2. - swap to Earth Attunement Earth Attunement once the cast begins


Earth

  1. - if available
  2. (if available)
  3. - drop Fiery Greastword immediately after the cast
  4. until you are at full energy and is nearly off cooldown
  5. - swap to Fire Attunement Fire Attunement once the cast begins


Fire

  1. Return to the start of the Air Section

Keep looping between the four elements, following the advice in the Rotation fundamentals section and adjusting as necessary.


Video example (DPS)


Video example (DPS, using earth elemental)


Sword/Warhorn Rotation

The quickness rotation is almost identical to the DPS one, with the exception that you use every loop and add the use of . You can also add into the fire section if you want more Might Might generation.

Opener in Air


Fire

  1. when ready
  2. (if available), followed by
    1. Otherwise, autoattack until Flame Uprising is available


Earth

  1. (if available)


Water

  1. if available, otherwise autoattack until Air Attunement is ready


Air

  1. Autoattack and use and as they come off cooldown
  2. when energy is nearly full
  3. Return to the start of the Fire Section


Video example


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 3 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
3 stars
OfficerAndyGentleman gave this build 3 stars • August 2023
On paper, a very strong option that provides a range of useful boons and deals great DPS. Unfortunately, the nature of its rotation makes it rather inflexible in its quickness provision and it struggles noticeably on bosses that move a lot.
5 stars
Velkix gave this build 5 stars • April 2023
Arcane precision doesn't provide much value, but this build is pretty solid. People can pick S/D and tweak some traits to solo open-world bosses. Bountiful Power is a perfect match for Catalyst and the best for daily usage. You can provide 20+ mights, perm quickness, decent protection, vigor, and minor regen. I personally prefer S/D because hammer has a fixed rotation, and you may lose Sphere energy due to some circumstances.
5 stars
MechaOG gave this build 5 stars • August 2022
This build can easily keep up perma quickness while managing to do a very decent dps. The cleave is amazing as is with Catalyst in general, so in fractals, you can mow down mobs. It works amazingly in most fractals, so I will only be rating it based on the fractals where it can work (Looking at you sunqua peak). It is easy to maintain quickness on it, so even if you mess up your rotations and get little less dps, you can still keep quickness up. One of the biggest thing with catalyst is, understanding combos. You put down many combo fields and have many finishers. Learning what each does, will allow a player to use the most out of this build. Can it go toe to toe with other quickness builds? I'd say, yes for the most part. You will have to spend sometime to learn it, but once you manage to understand it, you will be able to challenge the meta.

Comments

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